Donations pour in for AU

Naidu called for more academia-industry integration and added that the 89-year-old university occupies a prominent place in the history of modern Andhra Pradesh.

October 13, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:16 pm IST - VISAKHAPATNAM:

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu felicitating the oldest faculty member of Botany, 94-year-old Maheshwari Devi, at Grand Andhra University Alumni Meet in Visakhapatnam on Monday. Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu and others seen.—PHOTO: C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu felicitating the oldest faculty member of Botany, 94-year-old Maheshwari Devi, at Grand Andhra University Alumni Meet in Visakhapatnam on Monday. Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu and others seen.—PHOTO: C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

The first Grand Andhra University Alumni Meet organised here on Monday proved to be successful when it came to donations. Inaugurating the meet, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu promised to give a matching grant of Rs. 13.9 crore from the government to the university’s alumni corpus fund for development of the university.

Donations poured in from various alumni totalling Rs. 13.9 crore to which the Chief Minister promised to release an equal sum as a matching grant.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu said that the 89-year-old university occupies a prominent place in the history of modern Andhra Pradesh. “It has produced many leaders, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs and it is now up to the alumni to give back to the alma mater,” he said.

Quoting the examples of universities such as Harvard and Stanford, the Chief Minister said that great universities were built by the alumni. “It is not about funding, but alumni contribute by sharing their experience, knowledge and networking,” he pointed out.

Mr. Naidu also called for more academia-industry integration and cooperation. “The best of the universities in the world has developed in PPP mode and the integration with the industry is the need of the hour not only for funding but also for practical exposure of the students,” he asserted.

The Chief Minister also promised to release a fund of Rs. 5.5 crore for development of the university convention centre on the Beach Road.

Union Minister for Urban Development and alumnus of the university M. Venkaiah Naidu in his power-packed address remembered the ‘Jai Andhra’ movement as a student leader of the university.

“If the State was divided at that time, AP by now would have been the number one state in the country,” he said.

He also promised to see that the university would get all the required funding from UGC and would pitch in his best to make the university a centre for excellence.

The Union Minister urged the students to set aside caste and creed and work unitedly for development of the country.

Former DGP of AP and alumnus H.J. Dora pointed out that the university has many first’s including starting of the first MBA and nuclear physics department in the country, among universities.

University Vice-Chancellor G.S.N. Raju, HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Tribal Welfare Minister Ravela Kishore Babu, MP K. Haribabu, industrialist G. Mallikarjun Rao and MLA Vishnu Kumar Raju spoke.

The oldest surviving faculty member of AU Prof. Maheshwari from the Botany Department was felicitated by the Chief Minister on the occasion.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.